Caribbean Stud Strategy

To understand the strategy or even a modicum of how to win you need to look at the different probabilities. In Caribbean Stud Poker you are not going to find a lot of poker strategies that you are used to. First you can't bluff because you get dealt five cards and those cards must be shown to determine the winner. In Caribbean Poker you play against the house rather than other players. The house has a 5.26 percent edge over any player. In this article we are looking at one strategy that could be of help to your winning a little more often than you might otherwise.

The first thing you need to understand is when to fold. There are four things to consider when you think you might need to fold or raise the bet. The first thing you need to understand is the player who folds will not get the ante bet back. That is given to the casino bank. If you raise to stay in the game you will gain winnings on the ante bet if the dealer doesn't qualify, but not on the second bet. The second bet is returned. When the dealer does have the correct hand the player can win the ante bet and the raise they are offered. In other words if you bet $5 on the ante and another five on the raise you would get even money for the ante bet, and earnings according to the pay table for the raise based on your hand (as long as you win). If you have raised, but you don't have the higher hand, you will lose both bets.

In Caribbean Stud the option to raise can be easy to see. If you have a Royal Flush, Flush, or Straight, chances are you will want to raise. In other words the higher the hand you have the more chance you have of winning against the dealer. If you had a pair of twos you probably would want to fold. This is because the dealer has the potential to have a better hand than you, even in the pair department. Some strategies will tell you to always play a pair because pairs are dealt out at 42 percent. This means the dealer could also have a pair. A high pair is important. If you have two aces then yes you should play that hand. The chance of the dealer having better is still possible, but again a pair is dealt 42 percent of the time. The up card can give you a little idea for raising, but you should not fold your entire hand based on that card. It should be based more on your cards and the hand it makes.

Below we have a table in which we are going to outline what you should do regarding hands that you don't have a pair in. The information is based on the dealer up card as well as what you might have in your hand. If you have any of the conditions below you should place that second bet.

Players Hand

Dealers Upcard

A-K-Q-J-x

Any

A-K-Q-x-x

Must match one of the players cards

A-K-J-x-x

Must match one of the players cards

A-K-10-x-x

Must match one of the players cards

In Caribbean Stud if you have an up card that matches one of the cards in your hand, you know the dealer has a smaller chance of having more than a pair.

This chart will examine other instances in which you might want to raise:

Players Hand

Dealers Upcard

Any Pair

Any Upcard

A-K-Q-J-x

Any Upcard

A-K-Q-x-x

Must match one of players cards

A-K-J-x-x

Must match one of players cards

A-K-10-x-x

Must match one of players cards

You will not want to place any money in the progressive jackpot until the pot is more than $250,000. It is a better win obviously, but more than that you will just be throwing money in the pot with little winnings.

For more information on side-bets in Caribbean Stud Poker and more detailed analysis of the math surrounding when to place side-bets please visit this page on BettingBonuses.com.